Max Verstappen dominates Miami sprint, second Charles Leclerc in Ferrari
Max Verstappen dominates Miami sprint, second Charles Leclerc in Ferrari
As predicted Max Verstappen wins the Miami Grand Pemio sprint race in ease ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Sergio Perez’s other Red Bull. Fourth was the Racing Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, fifth the other Ferrari, that of Carlos Sainz.
A lot happens before the start: Esteban Ocon hits Leclerc in the pit lane before the formation lap, which è is precisely the formation lap on the grid and not the one before the start, and he is rightly slapped with a 10-second penalty. Bottas loses three ingrid positions for being too slow in qualifying, while Albon starts from pit lane for changes to the Williams’ setup at park closure.
At the start Verstappen takes the lead from the pole, behind him Leclerc and Perez is overtaken by Ricciardo, while Hamilton enters the first corner like a kamikaze by striking Alonso, Stroll and Norris, who ends up off the track and è forced to retire along with the Canadian, who does so after re-entering the pits. Inevitable the safety car to remove the McLaren of the British.
The race resumed on lap four and Perez did not take long to pass Ricciardo and hoist himself into third. Great duel between the Australian and Sainz for fourth place and between Magnussen and Hamilton for eighth, the last in the points zone of the sprint race.
The two collide and the Dane is penalized 10 seconds, then on another attempt by the seven-time world champion he accompanies him off the track but both are overtaken by Tsunoda and eventually the son of art gets passed by Hamilton but takes another 10-second penalty, however Hamilton è also under investigation for speeding excess; in the pit lane on the second lap run under safety-car.
Despite contnuously complaining about grip via radio Verstappen crosses the finish line as a dominator with almost three seconds on Leclerc, third Perez, fourth Ricciardo, fifth Sainz, sixth Oscar Piastri with the other McLaren, seventh Nico Hulkenberg while Hamilton snatches, at least for now, the last point from Tsunoda. At 10 p.m. qualifying for tomorrow’s race.
